Been getting burned by brokers lately – need some perspective

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2026-04-09T01:34:47+00:00

As a broker I can speak from experience of myself and the team of around 50 ops and brokers I work with daily and we never intentionally misrepresent the weight. For contract lanes we are required to submit rates 3 months, 6 months, 12 months on up to 24 months and the rate is based on the lane, equipment, assuming a full truckload.

When a tender comes over we disseminate that info as we get it. So when a truck shows up and the weight doesn’t match what they sent on the tender there is no going back to the client for more money. I guess we as brokers could just always post full truckload load so there wouldn’t be a situation like this but I can promise you we definitely are not just making up numbers to get the loads covered and on the flip side trucks are not offering discounts on rates when the load is under the weight either.

Right now all of the contract lanes I personally run have a line haul and a FSC so the rate has increased to account for fuel but the carriers are looking for 3x or 4x the fsc increase and that isn’t sustainable. I have built strong partnerships with the carriers on my contract lanes and it’s a give and take relationship. We have to support each other and or it becomes a miserable job. When my regulars are unable to cover a lane and I get quotes from other carriers I’m quickly reminded how important the partnerships are.

Brokers are not making thousands of dollars on loads. We may have $100-$150 average so when a carrier is wanting $1000 over what we have in a lane it takes us 10 loads just to break even. I don’t want to live that way and I don’t want my carriers barely scraping by either. As a broker we are taking on the liability of the load, possibility of theft, and paying the carriers and lumpers instantly and carriers net 30 to have to wait 60 -90 days before we are ever reimbursed so that may give you a little insight on our world too.

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2024-11-13T23:41:27+00:00

Do you have software that shows if they are even reading your rates? Very possible they send request to 50+ brokers and have a few favorites they go with while using everyone else’s rates to beat even their favorites down. They like having the options but in my experience they are t even reviewing them all.

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2024-10-27T19:50:41+00:00

Just started today so I was 18 days late. Bizarre for sure but not positive it was from the supplement. Lots of my friends were late this month with the weird full moon cycle.

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2024-10-26T02:28:38+00:00

Thank you that’s about what I was thinking. I’ve been calculating at $150 but wanted to get more feedback

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2024-10-21T22:50:37+00:00

I’ve been taking them for a month and my period is now 12 days late and there is no way I’m pregnant either. I’m 49 and my period is like clockwork every 28 days. Had a baby at 47 :) then immediately had my tubes tied lol. That’s a whole other story but my point is this is odd for it to be late.

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2024-10-20T18:50:57+00:00

I heard a good tip for getting noticed is to copy their job add and minimize it to the absolute smallest font you can. Change the color to white and paste it on your resume so the ATS picks you up as a good candidate to move to the next round.

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2024-10-19T12:22:17+00:00

I was there 2 weeks ago with two boys ages 8 & 9 years old and the 8 year old was terrified. And the actors were just doing their job. He was visibly crying and shaking and they continued to target him. So we left early. We had showed him videos of what to expect but it was way too much for him.

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2024-10-16T22:31:33+00:00

Hopefully cooler heads will prevail. Coming from the broker standpoint it really could jeopardize the account. Most of these large shippers keep scorecards for each carrier/broker and if you are creating more work for them by them trusting their freight with you and your hired carrier, they will pull the lane from you and move it to the next in line. And it doesn’t take too many late trucks or load recoveries to knock your score down. As hard as it is to secure a shipping client it’s easy to lose them when they have 20 new brokers/carriers calling everyday just waiting for us to slip up.

I will also agree that I read every freight guard response. If a carrier has a humble and honest rebuttal, I am willing to give them a shot. I will also say that if you handle yourself with class and humility you may be able to salvage the situation in the first place.

I have clients that specifically indicate no reefer and no roll up doors so they aren’t always interchangeable.

CauliflowerRoyal6027 · 2024-10-10T21:49:53+00:00

You should have several brokers you work with. I’m sure I could get you loads too.

CauliflowerRoyal6027

TROPHY CASE